이 기사는 2020년 01월 28일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Investment in logistics centers is booming in alternative investment at home and abroad as demand for e-commerce and online grocery delivery grows.

South Korea’s SK Holdings and Goldman Sachs plan to jointly invest in Belstar Superfreeze, a South Korean entity that develops and operates cold warehouses powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). Belstar currently operates a logistics center in Oseong Industrial Complex in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Belstar plans to construct its largest cold chain logistics center at Songdo New Port in Incheon.

Initially, Belstar Superfreeze will receive 25 billion won funding each from Goldman Sachs and SK. Despite the small investment amount, it is meaningful that the country’s conglomerate pays attention to a cold chain logistics center.

Goldman Sachs already has proven its ability to select areas with high growth potential, including Carver Korea and Woowa Brothers. The global investment bank especially made a successful investment in cold chain infrastructure in overseas markets. Goldman Sachs invested in Americold, a cold storage warehouse owner, in 2010 and listed the company via public real estate investment trust (REIT) in 2018 and exited the company one year later. Americold owns and operates 176 cold storage warehouses in countries like U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Argentina. Based on its successful experience, Goldman Sachs makes another cold chain infrastructure investment in South Korea.

Logistics centers have risen as one of the promising investment opportunities over the past few years at home and abroad. Especially with the number of e-commerce companies which provide same-day delivery services increasing, demand for sale, purchase and rent of logistics centers in metropolitan area of Seoul is on the rise.

In the meanwhile, building fulfillment is becoming one of the major business strategies in e-commerce. Fulfillment refers to the process of receiving, packaging and shipping orders for goods.

As demand for fresh foods using early morning delivery service grows exponentially, logistics centers, especially cold chain logistics centers are attracting keen attention. However, those facilities are in short supply. Limited amount of developable land and stricter regulation also act as headwinds to the supply of new logistics centers.

According to Colliers, a total transaction volume of logistics centers in the country amounted to around 2.4 trillion won in 2019. The transaction volume is expected to continue its growth. Geographically, Yongin and Icheon, which are traditionally main axis for logistics centers, are already saturated with excess supply. On the contrary, cities of Ansan and Pyeontaek provide alternative options for investors and developers due to the lower quantity of logistics centers and low land costs. In addition, institutional investors are interested in the development and investment opportunities in Incheon and Gimpo due to the lack of supply and increasing demand.

The current capitalization rate (cap rate) for logistics centers is between five to six percent and is recording a constant downtrend. The cap rate refers to rate of return that is expected to be generated on a real estate investment property. “It is getting harder and harder to receive land development approval to build new logistics centers. So, if [a company] transforms existing logistics facilities into cold chain facilities, the expected rate of return is likely to rise,” Colliers expected.

(By reporter Han Hee-yeon)